Dec201129

Staff

Pro Football Hall of Famer to Participate In Vince Lombardi Trophy Presentation

The NFL will salute former Baltimore Colts end and New England Patriots head coach RAYMOND BERRY during Super Bowl XLVI on Feb. 5, 2012, it was announced today.

Berry, who played his entire 13-year career with the Colts and won two NFL Championships with the team, will participate in the Vince Lombardi Trophy ceremony at the conclusion of Super Bowl XLVI. Berry will carry the trophy to the stage and deliver it to Commissioner ROGER GOODELL who will present it to the Super Bowl champion. The ceremony will be televised live by NBC at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.

Watched by more than 162 million viewers in the U.S. last year, the Super Bowl is annually the nation’s highest-rated TV program.

Berry, who was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1973, joins ROGER STAUBACH, LEN DAWSON, JOE NAMATH, DOUG WILLIAMS, DON SHULA and BART STARR as legends saluted in previous Lombardi Trophy ceremonies. The ceremony was expanded in 2006 to include a great from a prior Super Bowl and features the “Lombardi Theme,” special music scored by NFL Films.

Dec201129

Staff

The Bears-Packers Sunday night game on NBC was the most-watched show among all programs last week with 24.0 million viewers.

Locally, NFL games top the ratings in NFL markets 90 percent of the time through 16 weeks. Following is the list of the 29 NFL markets where football was the top-rated program for the week of Dec. 19-25:

Dec201127

Staff

Dec201127

Staff

The following is taken from the 2011 NFL Rule Book (pages 73-74) and defines players who are in a defenseless posture. The material is also covered in the 2011 League Policies for Players Manual, distributed to all players in training camp.

It is a foul if a player initiates unnecessary contact against a player who is in a defenseless posture.

(a) Players in a defenseless posture are:

(1) A player in the act of or just after throwing a pass;

(2) A receiver attempting to catch a pass; or who has completed a catch and has not had time to protect himself or has not clearly become a runner. If the receiver/runner is capable of avoiding or warding off the impending contact of an opponent, he is no longer a defenseless player;

(3) A runner already in the grasp of a tackler and whose forward progress has been stopped;

(4) A kickoff or punt returner attempting to field a kick in the air;

(5) A player on the ground at the end of a play;

(6) A kicker/punter during the kick or during the return;

(7) A quarterback at any time after a change of possession, and

(8) A player who receives a “blindside” block when the blocker is moving toward his own endline and approaches the opponent from behind or from the side.

(b) Prohibited contact against a player who is in a defenseless posture is:

(1) Forcibly hitting the defenseless player’s head or neck area with the helmet, facemask, forearm, or shoulder, regardless of whether the defensive player also uses his arms to tackle the defenseless player by encircling or grasping him; and

(2) Lowering the head and making forcible contact with the top/crown or forehead/”hairline” parts of the helmet against any part of the defenseless player’s body.

Note: The provisions of (2) do not prohibit incidental contact by the mask or helmet in the course of a conventional tackle on an opponent.

Penalty: For unnecessary roughness: Loss of 15 yards. The player may be disqualified if the action is judged by the official(s) to be flagrant.

Dec201127

Staff

It’s the final push for NFL teams as the regular season ends on Sunday, January 1. All 16 games in Week 17 are division contests.

With one week to go, there are still 16 teams in contention for a trip to Super Bowl XLVI in Indianapolis.

And for the 16th consecutive year, at least five teams will qualify for the playoffs that were not in the postseason the year before. San Francisco, Houston and Detroit are already in. Joining those clubs will be the NFC East winner (New York Giants/Dallas) and the AFC West champion (Denver/Oakland). And a sixth club could potentially come from the AFC’s last remaining Wild Card spot (Cincinnati/Oakland/Tennessee).

In the AFC, four of the six playoff spots have been secured – New England (AFC East, first-round bye), Houston (AFC South), Baltimore (playoff berth) and Pittsburgh (playoff berth). The Patriots can clinch home-field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs with a win or losses by both Baltimore and Pittsburgh.

Two division titles are still on the line in the AFC – the North and the West.

Baltimore wins the AFC North and secures a first-round bye with a victory or a Pittsburgh loss. The Ravens also gain home-field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs with a win and a Patriots loss. Pittsburgh wins the AFC North and secures a first-round bye with a victory and a Baltimore loss. The Steelers also gain home-field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs with a win and losses by the Ravens and Patriots.

Denver wins the AFC West with a victory or an Oakland loss. Oakland clinches the division with a win and a Denver loss.

There are still four clubs alive for the AFC’s final Wild Card spot – Cincinnati (9-6), Oakland (8-7), Tennessee (8-7) and the New York Jets (8-7).

Five of the six playoff teams and three of the four divisions have been determined in the NFC – Green Bay (NFC North, home-field advantage), San Francisco (NFC West), New Orleans (NFC South), Detroit (playoff berth) and Atlanta (playoff berth).

The NFC East division title will be on the line in Week 17 when the New York Giants host the Dallas Cowboys (NBC, 8:20 PM ET). Win and you’re in. Lose and you’re out.

“You want to put yourself in position for games like this,” says Giants guard CHRIS SNEE. “This is when the playmakers step up and when the good teams prove themselves. We just have to go out and beat a team that was a tough game the first time we played them.”

San Francisco clinches a first-round bye with a win or a New Orleans loss. The Saints secure the first-round bye with a victory and a 49ers loss.